


The Sky's Lights

by AKSST



Category: Deadpool - All Media Types, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Angst, City Hall subway station, Corporations aren't evil, Deadpool being Deadpool, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Let me fucking dream, M/M, Medical Experimentation, More spidery Peter, Mutant Powers, Mutant Rights, New Jersey doesn't exist and is a conservation park, New York City, No Deadpool Thought Boxes, Not the Symbiote, Peter Has a Family, Peter has fangs, Peter has venom, Peter is Tony's Biological Son, Peter is a Little Shit, Peter will kill for his brood, Physical Abuse, Psychological Torture, Spiderfamily - Freeform, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2020-12-31 20:53:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21152039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AKSST/pseuds/AKSST
Summary: Peter Stark was kidnapped by Weapon X as a baby and raised to be a monster, after Deadpool what little was left teamed up with HYDRA. To keep Peter from escaping they put him in charge of children who were already altered or mutated, knowing he wouldn't leave them behind, and they were right. After the Avengers raid the compound, Peter uses it as an opportunity to escape. No way of knowing his own identity, let alone the identity of the children in his care he uses the codenames given to them, and Iron Man will have to do quite a lot to earn the trust of the Spider and his brood of mutated children. Iron Man is furious at the fact that Peter has let Wade in, just because he can't be killed and won't help Stark at all with dragging Peter out of his hiding spot. And no way in hell was that going to last, Spider pheromones be damned!Tony is trying to do right by Peter and the brood he loves, why can't he see that?





	1. Someone is Searching For Your Heart Alone

Peter was stolen from him. 

Sixteen years ago today. 

Tony downed another scotch and coffee, his only source of sustenance for the last two days, hands and legs shaking as he poured over the investigative documents again and again. Looking for something,  _ anything  _ that might bring his baby boy back. His heart slammed against his ribs and the cold metal desperate for his heart. Tony tried hard to breathe around its ferocious beating, trying to calm himself, knowing that JARVIS would alert someone soon if he didn’t get himself under control.    
  
The documents were clear enough to him. Weapon X and HYDRA had teamed up, far from being slaughtered by Deadpool, Nat, and the newly reformed Winter Soldier. Working side by side now, and instead of taking desperate, dying, middle aged fools with no hope, they had taken a few leaves out of HYDRA’s notebook. They were taking  _ children _ , just as they had taken the Maximoff twins...and mutating them. It wasn’t proof they had taken Peter, just that they had at some point operated in the area he had been taken from back in Malibu, a very slim possibility around the same time. Tony knew it was a long shot, he knew his heart, and his soul couldn’t take it again if he was wrong, but no matter what he told himself he always believed that this time,  _ this time for sure _ he had found him. Even if he hadn’t this was worth The Avengers looking into...

Tony allowed himself one last breath, before he splashed some ice cold water on his face, taking his stash of mouthwash from its hiding place in the lab. He had to get the stink of at least some of the booze off himself or he wouldn’t be taken as seriously, he knew his lab reeked of expensive scotch and sour, greasy human. 

“JARVIS, call the Avengers that are currently in the tower into the briefing room.” Tony ordered as he splashed a bit of mouthwash in water and flicked it on himself. There was nothing he could do about his filthy hair and sunken, pale face, but he couldn’t bring himself to give a shit about that. Making his way into the elevator he forced his breath even and his heart rate down. Stepping off and into the penthouse he reserved for the briefing room he saw everyone gathered around the table.    
  
“What’s this about, Tony?” Asked Cap, his tone even with calm, authoritative power ringing through. 

“HYDRA, and this time they’re not alone...and doing something despicable even for them.” Tony replied, taking a moment to bring up the reports on his discovery. “They’ve teamed up with what was left of Weapon X after Deadpool was done with it and are now using their MO to take in children, torture them into mutates, as they did with the twins. And when they do eventually mutate, HYDRA uses them for their nazi horseshit.”    
  
Tony was quiet for a moment as he pulled up several videos of mutates of various ages, taken on shoddy cell phone equipment from various places in the world. He zoomed in on the collars around their necks, and the HYDRA symbols carved into them, and above it, on the child’s neck itself, blurry though it was, still clear as day. A Weapon X brand, burned into its skin, like a master’s tag. 

“What a despicable monstrosity they dedicate themselves to.” Said Thor, quietly from his spot near the window. “How will we attack them? I trust after our invasion for Loki’s staff they will have improved upon their security.”    
  
“Thor’s right, we can’t just go in guns blazing like we did in Sokovia.” Steve said gently. He saw this was more than a mission for Tony. Tony never spoke of his son to Steve, of all the things Tony didn’t want to talk about, this was the worst. The worst pain Tony had ever felt in a life full of it. He had seen the toll many things had taken on Tony, each one slowly sapping him of the energy, and yet never the will to get back up again. Anything that hurt a child caused a rage in Tony that made everyone scared.    
  
“Well, I hacked their database and we have about thirty-two hours before they find the bugs I planted, wipe their servers, not that that would help, I already copied everything. However it would cause them to change every tactic, fall off the map and make it extremely difficult to find them again and impossible to keep more children from being snatched and horrifically experimented on.” Tony said, snidely and without patience.    
  
“I’m not saying we won’t go in a decent amount of time. We’ll attack in twenty-four hours, in that time, take a nap we can’t go in with you half asleep and raging on your teammates.” Steve ordered. “When you wake up in six hours you can join us, you’ll still have 16 hours go over our plan, add anything you think we need.” 

Tony glared, but Steve’s tone gave no room for argument, he got up from the table and went to his room. Nipping from his secret stash of sleeping pills from back in the day, he managed a relatively dreamless sleep.    
  
  
  
\---------------------   
  


  
  
  


“What up, Iron Douche?” Came the voice, obviously full of food through the phone. “You’re not the type to use my services...unless you’re looking for my... _ services _ , nudge nudge wink wink.” Tony pinched his nose, and took a breath, he couldn’t deal with this. 

“I need your help.” He said, his voice unstable despite his best efforts. Upon waking the only flaw in the plan was no man on the inside, which they didn’t have for obvious reasons, people in HYDRA or Weapon X generally only left the organizations in body bags, all but one.   
  
“Of course you do, that is why people tend to call me,” Deadpool let out a heavy sigh. “No one  _ ever  _ calls just to say hi to me! Which is just a  _ crying  _ shame. I’m an extremely fun person.” He began to ramble, Tony cut him off before he could continue, he couldn’t afford to lose Deadpool, not when he was so close. “Weapon X. They’re back. They never left.”    
  
“ **Where?”** Came the reply, its tone shifting immediately. “I killed every last one of those motherfuckers. Where in the hell did you manage find more?” He demanded.    
  
“JARVIS tipped me off to their activities. And they learned their lesson with you last time. They’re not bothering with hopeless adults...they’re taking children, have been for a while now...and they’ve got HYDRA backing them.” Tony replied, all business. “We’re taking off in eight hours, you know where I live, and you know I can afford you.”    
  
“All good, Tin Can. This one’s on the house.” Deadpool hung up on him, and in two hours was waltzing into his penthouse, armed to the teeth, ready to go. He may have been cruel, and a dangerous man, but damn if he couldn’t be relied on at times like this. Weapon X was something he didn’t fuck around with, and neither were children. After telling them everything he knew about Weapon X, how they operated, what kind of security they favored, and most likely changed which narrowed down what they would likely have now, he also told them what compounds and tortures would have been used to mutate the children.    
  
They boarded the Quinjet in silence, and listened as Cap gave them all their battle plans, the base was more remote, courtesy of HYDRA, no doubt, so they didn’t need to worry about not making a mess. It was still close enough to New York that escape was still an issue though. Iron Man would be on the tech surrounding the base, Wanda would be on mutant patrol no telling which of tell were prisoners. Nat on getting past living based security into the building, Thor, Clint, and Pietro would be on taking down and rounding up the goons without killing them for questionsing. Bruce was to stay inside the jet and serve as a medic for whatever horrors waited inside, this situation was too sensitive to the Hulk. Wade would be going in with Natasha, once she got him into the building he would be able to lead with Cap and Nat close behind to find the prisoners and release them. No one expected Wade to do this cleanly, but those two could handle it, and at least he wouldn’t kill the prisoners. They all got ready to jump as Bruce flew them over the base, preparing for the fight.    
  
  
  
\--------------   
  
  
  
Spider felt it in the air, just as he had the first time he’d managed to get out. He looked to the other children that had been placed in his care and training to quietly hiss and snap his pincers once. Not uncommon for him to do either of those things, really, but in that order was a code, one they understood. The fools that had taken him had put him in charge of the children thinking that he wouldn’t try to escape if it meant leaving them behind, and they were right, as inhuman as he looked he still had a heart under his carapace. They had unknowingly given him an army and he would use it, and he was so proud of his brood, had he not trailed them himself he would never have known that they heard him. None of them gave even the slightest reaction, but he knew that they had their battle plan and route memorized.    
  
As soon as the alarm went off they all stood to attention, knowing they wouldn’t be used for battle yet as they weren’t fitted with compliance collars but still expected to ready themselves. Spider waited...just a moment more… The last guard in there left to watch them finally choked and left to help his comrades,  _ good _ , Spider thought, his brood wouldn’t have to watch death again. He’d been planting the tiny little seeds throughout the facility, too tiny to track even at point blank, his sense the only thing that allowed him to know they were functioning, and even they had extreme difficulty. He hissed, in just the right tone, to trigger them, giving way to a series of teeny tiny popping noises, shattering the electronics that kept their cage secure.    
  
With Spider in the lead and the rest in formation he walked toward where he had seen a hidden service tunnel he’d passed so many times during his training and torture. He pried the rusted door off its hinges and held it while the kids ran through, calm in the face of the chaos around them, one remaining his him going in to be followed by Spider, all awaiting orders as the child only known to him as Torch welded the door back to the wall. They didn’t have much time, soon they’d be discovered and have to fight, he resumed his place at the lead and ran, fire sprouting behind them every few feet to keep their masters at bay for as long as possible. Peter was so proud!   
  
Soon they reached the end of the tunnel, facing a ladder that led up, heard the sounds of a fierce battle above them. From here on out, they were winging it, and they couldn’t risk going up, and going down would break them into another part of the facility. He snapped his fangs to summon another child, this one whose hands ended with long, terrifying claws, useless against their cage but against this soft earth? Like nothing. He ripped the stairs from the wall, exposing the dirt behind it as another of his brood, Wolf Cub, began to dig, he soon followed directly behind him, prepared to leap forward to take any oncoming damage as well as widen the tunnel, the rest of the children following as the fire melted the earth behind them sealing the hole with a crude glass. It wouldn’t keep anyone out who wanted it but it would slow them down and warn them of someone coming.    
  
Too dangerous to use fire now, Torch reported to the middle, Dazzler, Jubilee, Marrow, and Aurora, those who could produce light of the group formed a diamond shape outside of the group and glowed. Bioluminescence kept them able to see, even if all they could see was a small, tight tunnel and it felt like they had been walking forever, each one of them working to move the dirt from the tunnel back behind them. Spider heard rushing water ahead, and gave the order to dig upward, Torch behind him and Ice behind him who cooled the flames. Spider had no issue sticking to the wall and climbing up, carrying the digger with him, the Torch clawed into the earth with hands hot enough to make metal grasping holds for the others to climb, Ice behind him to cool the heat and solidify them.    
  
Spider emerged from the Earth to look around, noting that it was a somewhat urban area, there were few people around and those that were didn’t spare them so much as a glance. He dragged himself out, his monstrous appearance not even given a look, he helped his children out, counting all as he went, they were all there. Sighing in relief for only a second as he heard voices from the tunnel, too far away to hear the glass break then. The smell of blood filled his nostrils as he webbed off the exit hole, one of his children shoving over a large rock.    
  
He looked around, his heart jumping, looking desperately for something to use for protection, they were so close, they couldn’t lose now.  _ There!  _ He thought, with a hiss and a point of his fingers they children all ran to a filthy tunnel with tracks under it, Spider bringing up the rear and the claw child in the lead. His sense tapered off as they entered but didn’t leave, they were less likely to be found here, but this place was still dangerous. The tunnel was long and there was something loud and massive heading their way, giving the order to run forward, towards the roaring sound, he sensed safety as well as danger. A ledge came up in front of them, a way out of the path of the monster coming towards them, he ordered the children to sprint and they did.    
  
Spider watched them climb up the ledge to safety one by one as the monster came right up on them, he grabbed the last child and threw them over before leaping himself, snarling in pain as his leg got clipped by what he could now see as a train passing. Looking down he saw the wound was bad, but he had had much worse, he would recover. They all panted and took a break, before Spider laughed, for the first time he could remember, they were safe. All of them, they’d made it, he could feel it, they were free. Opening his arms to embrace his brood, openly display the affection he had always had to hide as tears slipped from multiple eyes as well as the children who still had tear ducts. He looked around to see a set of stairs under an arch made of beautiful colored tiles, leading the children up, past an embedded sign that proclaimed City Hall. There was no one here, and there hadn’t been for a very long time, no one to harm them in any way ever again, as the last of the children rose above the stairs, Peter scaled the walls and began to build a massive web, sealing off their old lives from the new ones they would now lead.    
  
The sound of his brood celebrating, making noise like the children they were finally allowed to be helped him ignore the pain in his leg, and filled his heart with warmth he hadn’t felt in forever. Some had been spliced with animals as he had been, some had been brutalized into their mutations like Torch and Ice, and he loved all of them. They were not his clutch, and truthfully many were nearly as old as he was, but they were his brood, and he loved them, and would always watch over them. 

Forever.   
  
  
  
\------------   
  
  
  
The Avengers hit hard, fast, and with efficiency. Normally Wade would like to have taken a little bit more time giving these people what they deserved but there were kids inside, they were more important. Once the infamous Black Widow got them in Deadpool charged with swords drawn, in perfect sync with Captain America and the deadly spider, and Tin Can in the sky scanning the building and guiding them on where to go, everything was going according to plan.    
  
Until it wasn’t.    
  
When Deadpool heard a soft pop followed by the power shutting down he didn’t bat an eye, until the voice in his ear warned them.    
  
“Guys, that was not me, someone else decided to kill the power, watch yourselves!”    
  
That put them all on high alert, putting himself in front, his healing factor making him the most disposable, Romanoff in the middle, and Cap bringing up the rear with his shield in case of an attack from behind. Dispatching those in front of them with extreme prejudice was certainly fun, but Deadpool was a bit skeptical.    
  
“For people know knocked out their own power source they don’t seem to have a plan.” Romanov said, as though she wasn’t breaking two necks at once while sailing through the air above him. Wade really would have to ask where she learned her ballet, after all he deserved to float like a princess too!    
  
“That could be a trap in and of itself, Nat.” Came the voice of patriotism behind him. That was when Wade popped in.    
  
“Iron Balls, we’re coming up on the last wave, Weapon X only ever keeps a certain amount of screws around, soon they’re just going to torch this place or throw experiments at us, anyone mortal needs to fuck off right now, and any information you can get better get got.”    
  
“Cap, Nat, let Wade run ahead, Cap, stick with Wade, Nat see if you can get me any files of any kind, I still can’t get the power working.”    
  
All replied in the affirmative, dispatching those in front of them together, while the Widow seemed to vanish into thin air. Soon it was over, all that was left was to search for stragglers, victims, evidence, and any hidden HYDRX drones. It was always surreal, going from controlled chaos to the dust settling. Everything sat on a razor wire, everyone still up and ready to kill. Wade breathed deep, putting most of Deadpool away as he sheathed his katanas and walked deeper, looking for the cages, he was not the person anyone on the hospital beds wanted to see save them, he left that to the good guys. The ones in cages however would never trust anyone freeing them out of kindness, not anymore, better a paid mercenary, they would trust him enough to leave the cages, and then they would be the Avengers problems.    
  
He went deeper and deeper underground, opening cages every now and again, some had a victim in them...most were empty.    
  
“I think I found the plan when they cut the power, guys.” Wade started, “Almost none of these cages have anyone in them, I think someone smuggled the rest away.”    
  
“They could have been for the ones in hospital beds, no shortage of them.” Bruce chimed in for the first time.    
  
“No, HYDRA might give people their own luxury crabs infested concrete suits but Weapon X is a big fan of shoving several to a cell, these cages could easily hold nine adults and maybe more children of varying sizes. We’re definitely missing some people.” Wade let Deadpool come back a bit, his every sense on high alert as he searched, it could also be an ambush.    
  
“I finally found out what caused the outage, someone rigged ridiculously small homemade explosives to several power sources, the ones not in cages could also have escaped, like you did.” Came the voice in his ear from Stark, another one from Captain America.    
  
“He has a point Wilson, hold back, me, Stark, and Barton are coming to you.”    
  
He confirmed over the mic and waited, still looking all around him, looking for anywhere they could go, there wouldn’t be a real exit that didn’t lead to somewhere else secure in the compound, _ there _ .   
  
“You guys better hurry up, Tin Can in the lead, I just found the only exit, freshly welded shut. Could be HYDRX, could be enhanced escapees, we’re gonna need something hot to melt it back open. The longer you take the more they get away.”    
  
As soon as they all got within eyeshot Deadpool pointed at the door and moved his ass, letting Iron Man melt away the door frame while Cap yanked it off. Stark scanned the service corridor, finding thirteen life signs, all moving forward, which was what they all did as well, moving fast but not so fast that they would alert those ahead of them, or further scare them on the chance they were escaped victims. Stark scanned the tunnel and found that it lead up to the surface, another part of the compound, he told Cap who sent Wanda and Thor to the area, only to find the stairs leading to the surface in front of them. Completely mangled, they were dealing with enhanced for sure, looking up Wade saw a sheet of glass, at least six inches thick in front of them, freshly made and still hot.    
  
“It looks too molten to shatter.”    
  
“I realize that Cap, I can melt it back down but then it would be all over the ground we have to walk on, or I can cool it fast, but then the sound of it shattering with alert the enhanced who made it.” Iron Douche was sassy now. That was Wade’s schtick, the rich elite truly did have to have everything for themselves, didn’t they?    
  


“Well they are digging.” Birdy finally broke his vow of silence. “It’s not like we can’t follow them, put Wade in front to let them mow down and then we can gauge the abilities and go from there on who goes next.”    
  
“What did I ever do to you, Henhouse?!”    
  
“You once threw me off the side of the Sky Tower in Bucharest! If Nat hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t be here, but that’s beside the point.”    
  
“You both killed me like a gajillion times for that!”   
  
“Break it up you two! Hawkeye is right, Deadpool, you’re up front, Stark, behind him, I’ll go behind Stark, Clint you stay behind me, and if I see you take a cheap shot at Deadpool I’ll tell Hulk that it was you who broke his swan figurine.”   
  
“You wouldn’t…”   
  
“I would, get in formation.”    
  
Grumbling as they went they did as they were told, Stark shattering the glass and Wade leading the charge because fuck him he guessed. They had to move slowly, the tunnel was narrow, crowded, and hastily made. This wasn’t the work of someone with a plan, this was winging it, and he said as much.    
  
“I can scan again on a skeletal level and check wisdom teeth and bone density when we get closer to them and get a general probability of age ranges but it won’t be accurate.”    
  
That was better than nothing, Wade was convinced that this was the work of some escapees who saw an opportunity for escape. That didn’t make them any less dangerous, they could have any array of powers that could destroy these people, he would be fine after all.    
  
“Guys, I just got the scans in, these are definitely kids, I don’t think a single one of them is even twenty, we’re under the Hudson now, and it looks like they’re digging upwards on the other side, we gotta move if we’re gonna get them!”    
  
They broke out into a clamoring run, no longer worried about sneaking up on them, can’t be the element of surprise if there was no one to surprise, that just made for a sad party, his thirteen year old self promises.    
  
“They’ve breached the surface, get there fast!” Came the voice of all patriotism.   
  
“Yeah no.”    
  
“What?!”   
  
“I don’t know what that is that they’ve stuffed up the hole with but it looks pretty ewwy.” Wade said in his special high pitched voice he used only for Wolverine and Cable, when they were very good boys and earned it.    
  
“Its spiderwebs, if spider silk was made of steel cables. And there’s a rock on top of us too.” Ah, Titanium Cranium with his helpful scans.    
  
“So...we have to walk all the way back?”    
  
And Henhouse with his super bummer realities. 


	2. Tomorrow is Another Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Looooots of POV shifting in this one lol

The sounds of wailing parents two rooms down was killing him. Since their little escapees popped the power before HYDRX could wipe files and destroy servers they got every bit of information out of that place. Those who had DNA that was still unaltered enough got ran through his personal system and were reunited with their families and given funds for therapy and any other form of assistance needed. Those who had been mutated enough usually had an original blood test to show changes in their DNA for comparison, and that was the saving grace that led them back home since most of them only knew themselves or one another by the lazy codenames HYDRX had given them. Tony’s team of lawyers were earning their wages for sure, reversing death certificates, making sure that the kids who would have gone home to poor housing conditions had proper accommodations, setting up college and school funds for all of them, and making sure their families would be able to take care of them as well.    
  
That wasn’t the sound coming from the other room. The reunions were happening at one of the lower floors of Stark Tower.    
  
The sounds coming from the next room were the sounds of families being told that their child had not survived the torture or their mutation. The grounds near the facility had yet to yield any bodies. Or any food sources for those kept there.    
  
The fate of their child’s bodies had been to be served as food for those that did survive.    
  
Tony was still pouring over the documents, searching for which ones could have been the ones who had gotten away, maybe by looking into their training he could maybe find where they might have most likely run to. Not that Deadpool couldn’t find anybody in the world, whether they wanted to be found or not, but they didn’t have however long it would take him to comb through all of New York.    
  
Another scream of a mother who knew for sure her baby was gone rang through his bones.    
  
He put his head down and slamming his hands over his ears, gripping them tightly, some of his hair trapped in his fingers. For one manic second he considered ripping them right off his head, anything to not hear that wretched sound again, not have to face that with every file he pulled up he could be making the same one as he saw the file that may belong to his son if they did take him after all. Tony didn’t know what was worse, not to know or to know at this point, was he ready to give up that hope?    
  
Six files later, he was given his answer.    
  
Peter was alive, but he wasn’t in the hospital on site. He wasn’t listed as dead. Tony shook and choked as he looked over pictures of his son undergoing mutation and surgery, surgery he’d been awake for. Remembering the hands in his own chest in Afghanistan haunted him, and those were the hands of a friend. He saw the fangs and multiple eyes.    
  
A video.    
  
He heard the machine in his chest whine with the pressure he put on it before he clicked play.    
  
What he saw made him vomit and scream and cry, slamming his fists into the sides of his head.    
  
Steve came rushing in, not looking at the video, grabbing Tony’s arms and holding him tight to his chest, trying to get him to stop hurting himself, and then he saw.    
  
An old video, probably ten years old. A little boy that looked so much like his friend and lover he knew that it had to be Peter, despite the multiple eyes and fangs that shot out of his gums as he hissed in a threatening gesture. A guard laughing and mocking him, teasing him like an animal, the boy was thin and starving, the guard had some food, just out of reach. There were others in the cage, even younger than the boy, though some appeared to be the same or around the same age. His time in the military showed him by body language that Peter was the head honcho, the rest stayed behind him, silent and observant, this was something they had seen before.    
  
He watched as the guard got closer with the food, taking it away at the last second, laughing his ass off like it was the most hilarious thing he’d ever seen in his life as the child couldn’t resist the meat in his hand. Then he heard the words.    
  
The meat was from a child. A human child, one who had been under Peter’s care. Steve was about to yell for JARVIS to turn the fucking thing off, he couldn’t stand to see what he was looking at, and before he did…the guard got too close.   
  
Peter lunged faster than he’d ever seen a human being move and sank his fangs into the flesh of the guard, causing the man to freeze. He saw such a little boy  _ pull _ . And heard the sickening sound of bones shattering and contorting to fit between bars as Peter dragged the body in, the other man filming just as silent as his dead little buddy, frozen as Tony’s son presented the guard to the children before they tore into him, feeding on their tormenter. The boy looked up, blood covering the lower half of his face as he took the meat that had been used to tease him.    
  
And he ate that too.    
  
Thr video ended and then began again on a loop, Steve ordered it silenced and called for Doctor Banner to run and bring a sedative.    
  
  
  
\-------------------------   
  
  
  
Two weeks later led to where they were now, Deadpool had started by the rock that had been shoved over the exit hole, bringing Domino along with him, for luck. But it still wasn’t a superpower.    
  
“Yes it is.”    
  
“What the fuck?”    
  
“I don’t know. Just felt like I should say that right then, why were you thinking it wasn’t?”    
  
“Fuck you, thats what I was thinking.”    
  
Domino laughed while he pouted. He looked around, the obvious choice would have been the subway tunnel, but it was active and very unlikely they moved fast enough to avoid getting smeared into a paste. He dismissed it, there were too many kids that were too unfamiliar with the subways, tunnels, and how to avoid the trains, not only that the sounds and smells of the disgusting sludge made of Thanos knows what would wreak havoc on their enhanced senses. 

Yet that’s where Domino wanted to go. Of course she did, he just got all the blood and piss out of his suit and no it was time to wade through the toxic sludge that coated the subway walls, and if he got hit it’s not like he wouldn’t just come back from being a puddle.    
  
Maybe he’d make Stark clean his suit, or invent something that kept his suits clean, because scotch guarding it only did so much. If anything. If that was even scotch guard he was hosing his suits down with, maybe it was peanut butter, that smelled better at least.    
  
“Hey, the old City Hall station is ahead up there, isn’t it? They could have gotten there before the trains came if they were lucky.”    
  
“You and fucking luck. But yeah, it is possible they beat the trains there, they were running for their fucking lives. Better get the Iron Dildo on the line.”    
  
Within a few moments they had a drone following them the rest of the way in, the glorious Deadpool in the lead, and Domino on the tracks, no train would even dare barrel towards them. Both failed to notice the young teen above their heads, trained from birth to be silent, and the smell of the subway covering up his phasing. He was ever so curious, other than the train no one wandered this far into his new home, he must inform his mother, of course, Spider would be ever so displeased.    
  
“Holy. Shit.”

“Yeah we found them, that’s for sure.”    
  
“So, you’re going in and I’ll go call Stark?”    
  


“Nice try, we can thumb wrestle for it, like men!”    
  
“You’re just saying that because I beat you at rock, paper, scissors all the time and thats not luck, its because you’re stupid. Byeee!”   
  
“You are so mean to me!” 

Deadpool turned to the massive web that covered the stairs leading to City Hall Station, it had tunnels of varying sizes, so clearly they were going in and out, there was blood on them, that could be from the kids or from anyone they deemed as a threat. He heard growling coming from one of the lower tunnels, but it sounded so small…

Wade moved closer, gently reaching down, moving slowly, but not hesitating, until a small fur ball shot out from it. It latched onto his arm and bit down hard, breaking bones and ripping through flesh, it had black claws tipping its fingers shredding flesh from his mangled arm.    
  
“Awwww! Aren’t you just the cutest! Look at these hands, you must have been our little digger, you sweet thing.”    
  
Turning the creature in his arms he held it against his chest and snuggled it while it chewed on him fiercely, still ripping flesh from him as it tried to escape like a pup that knew it was in trouble. Wade saw in the poor baby’s eyes it had expected him to run screaming and now had no clue what to do. He didn’t expect the screech that came from his little mouth, or the massive amount of pain that crashed through his body the next second, something larger than the mutated child in his arms, but not by much.    
  
Jesus fuck did it pack a punch though. Enough to send him flying if it wasn’t hold him tight, when he opened his eyes, breathing through a crushed chest cavity he saw some blue monster looking mutant holding the biting little rascal with a prehensile tail. And holding Wade tight was another mutant, this one with multiple eyes, and massive pincers in his mouth.    
  
“Go home.” He said, and the two off to the side obeyed, crawling through the web tunnels and out of sight. This one was the leader of the little fugitives, Stark’s kid, he spoke so softly to them, so caringly, and yet his voice was creaking and harsh, it hadn’t been used properly in years. At least. “You hunted my ne-st,” the voice came again, his fear melting away, pheromones. Wade was impressed, few of those worked on him, and these were very nice anyways, his skin felt numb and cooled in his suit, it felt so wonderful...he’d forgotten was his skin had felt like when it wasn’t hurting. He inhaled deeply towards the figure above him, balanced on the wall, holding him in the air, the drone behind them forgotten, barely even feeling it as those fangs shunted through his suit like it wasn’t there, the venom pouring into his body made the light fade gently and peacefully. His last thought before he completely fell was that this was  _ so much better than a bullet. _   
  
  
  
\-------------------   
  
  
  
  


The scent of blood from a stranger filled his senses, Nightcrawler had warned him about the intruder, though to be happy that Wolf Cub was making a snack of his arm was something he was not expecting. Spider may have even allowed it had the stranger not picked him up and restrained him against his body the way he had. Moving fast was no issue, he knew the Nightcrawler would take Wolf Cub home, though he disliked how his tail would get drooled on and would sulk about it later, apparently wet fur was no laughing matter.    
  
He spoke to the man, though it still hurt to do so, Spider had not been permitted to speak in so long that his vocal chords had paid the price, but he must encourage the others to find their voices once more and to do that he led by example. Something was off with this one, his senses told him he wasn’t a danger to them, but something else was there. He felt the shift as his instinct took over, his body barely his own, his mind foggy as he planted a gentle but no less deadly bite to the shoulder of the stranger, somehow knowing he would be fine.    
  
This one belonged with him, he could sense it, this one was their family, this one was  _ his,  _ Spider took him back through the web to inform everyone of the new member. He needed the help anyways, Wolf Cub kept chewing on Marrow’s protruding bones, Flame and Ice wouldn’t stop pissing one another off for amusement. Not to mention that Jubilee wouldn’t stop making fireworks and Nightcrawler kept sneaking out to explore all the time. He needed help, as he was vastly outnumbered.    
  
He was so wrapped up in the vision of including this stranger into his life he almost forgot to web the drone to the wall, he’d have Sunspot kill it later. Spider had no idea that his father was watching him through that drone, weeping and shaking in a kaleidoscope of emotion he couldn’t yet begin to understand.    
  
He placed the stranger in his personal nesting burrow and left to attend to the others for now.   
  
\------------   
  
After the web had fastened and mostly secured the drone to the wall there wasn’t much to see. Thankfully Deadpool would bounce back and be able to communicate was was going on when he did, and once they had enough information they would go in and take everyone there back to Stark Tower. They’d already identified the other two mutants, Kurt Wagner, age ten, codename Nightcrawler, and Nicholas Gleeson, age five, codename Wolf Cub.    
  
And his beloved son, found at last, Peter Parker, age, 17, codename Spider.    
  
Christ these codenames were lazy. They’d narrowed down who the kids in Peter’s little pack were, some of them hadn’t even been taken, they’d been sold instead, like the little Nightcrawler they’d just seen. Some of them had homes waiting for them and some did not, poor Nicholas was an orphan, Tony wondered if they boy knew, he had been there when his parents died, one after the other. But he’d been so young it was hard to tell if he would remember, or hell if the kid even had a concept of what a parent was outside of Peter. Tony still had no idea what was going to have to be done about that, the relationship they had with one another was unhealthy, but taking that away would leave them with absolutely nothing.    
  
Out of all the kids in the group there were only six that had parents and maybe two who wanted them back and there was no way of telling if they were just going to sell the poor things again maybe to someone worse, it was hard to tell which parents were victims and which ones were profiting. Seems that they had given Peter thier most monstrous of cases, giving the kids a balm, someone who loved and cared for them, they wouldn’t want to risk that by running off. And Peter was in charge of those kids, according to his file he raised them pretty much, there was no way he’d leave them behind, and having all of them escape at once was something they hadn’t thought was possible.    
  
Clearly, it had worked out so well for them.   
  
Tony made a list of who they could afford to send down there, now that his son’s cannibalistic habits were a very real threat, the drone had picked up on pheromones in the air so that was also something to consider. Peter was strong enough to defeat Deadpool, with pheromones strong enough to override the mans healing factor, and he apparently had a policy of eating trespassers, or maybe he was simply hungry enough to do so. After all, seeing absolutely no rats in that entire part of the subway wasn’t something to ignore. Maybe if they made an offering of real food, or if he went down in his armor, Peter probably couldn’t bite through it and his mask would filter any pheromones at least. Whether or not he could rip the Iron Man suit apart and then eviscerate him was another story.    
  


A video notification from Deadpool came up on one of his screens, guess he must have regenerated.

  
\--------------   
  


Deadpool woke from what felt like the best sleep of his life, after the best sex of his life, after the best dinner of his life. He waited for the pain from his skin to return, when it didn’t he opened his eyes, noting that his mask was still on, even while most of his suit was shredded. He was in a massive web nest, alone, but not tied down, he heard noises from outside the web. Following the noises to know where he should go in the tunnels that seemed to go on and on in every direction before they led out.    
  
Wade watched as the Spider kid that bit him tried in vain to wrangle twelve kids of different ages into behaving, he almost couldn’t help laughing, but he wanted to observe more. At the last minute he decided to turn on a camera from one of his pouches and attach it to what was left of his suit, hoping Stark was at his desk to see it.    
  
There was one child under a skylight just glowing and having a great time, flicking the little werewolf looking kid off with whatever power he had whenever the little puppy boy tried to jump on him and play. Peter was trying to break up a wrestling match between the two closest to him in age that shot fire and ice at one another while laughing and screwing around, there was one little lizard looking dude hanging out with one who wasn’t showing of his powers just yet, he could tell from the files given that it was some French kid who went by Northstar. A girl with bones sticking out of her body at all angles as well as spots that gave off light was walking by, seemingly used to the chaos, she must have used her lights so the other kids could see in that tunnel they dug. Two more girls were off to the side, one was a much younger child, who was having the time of her life as the older kid shot fireworks at her which she deflected with armor that she manifested out of thin air. Wade couldn’t see the blue dude that was there holding onto the wolf kid when Peter body slammed him, and there were two more kids unaccounted for.    
  
He walked out slowly, hands up in submission, as all the kids went silent. The others were tense, waiting on their leader and parental figure to command them how to react. Just as he was. They all seemed to be surprised when a purring noise came from Peter, who gave a few small chattering noises that broke the tension like it was never there, the kids relaxed and smiled, walking up to him happily. Wade could see they had complete trust in Peter, that would make his job easy once he got his orders to get Peter back to Stark Tower, for some reason he had decided that he liked his nasty avocado ass so? He watched silently as Peter approached him, the eight eyes were unsettling at first, most focused on him, but others watched the kids and entrances to their hidey hole. Wade couldn’t help but think he was beautiful in a way, tall and lithe, is severely underweight, long fingers that made his palms look teensy ended in claws. The rest of him looked more elongated than was average, long arms and legs too, that’s where Peter’s height came from, though still not as tall as himself. He couldn’t see them now but he knew there were venomous pincers inside that closed mouth.    
  
Wade was jerked out of his planning by sharp, familiar claws, instead of maiming him this time though Wolf Cub seemed content to crawl up the back of his legs and nibble on his arm, making the other kids laugh and relax further, when they saw no negative repercussions to touching him they all did. They examined him in their childlike curiosity, picking through his pockets and eating his snacks, not that he minded they all looked extremely hungry. The only person not examining him was Peter, who looked on apparently happy with how his pack accepted him as a newcomer.    
  
“Um, Hey there Spidey-boy, my name is Wade, I’m here to take you home?”    
  
This seemed to amuse him for some reason as he smiled and gave a harsh, choking laugh with his underused voice. When he finished with his laugh he said something that shocked Wade to his core.    
  
“What a fine mate you are, to find us a home, but the task is already done. This is our home.”    
  


  
Somewhere across Manhattan Tony Stark sat stunned in outrage, a thousand different scenarios flashed through his mind at what Deadpool had done to his poor, precious son before giving everyone the order to suit the fuck up.    
  
Meanwhile Wade was wondering the same thing.    
  
“Wow, a mate, that sounds fun, sweetie pie, but you’re a bit too young for that, at least in my book.” He said nervously.    
  
“Then one day I will not be too young for you.” Spider responded with confidence before continuing, “Currently you still belong with our home, my children are yours now as well.”    
  
“Wow, thats, a neat thing for you to decide.” Wade laughed awkwardly but he couldn’t deny that he would have been happy to spend his days as mate to a spider man and father to a gaggle of mutants. But, the kid was still a kid.    
  
_ For now… _ _   
_ _   
_ _ Shut it! _ _   
_ _   
_ “Well then, let me be a good mate a get some food for you guys, let me introduce all of you to the wonders of delivery food, and hopefully soon, regular bathing habits.”    
  
_ That’s rich coming from me of all people.  _ _   
_ _   
_ _ Fuck you, me. _ _   
_ _   
_ He placed the call for deliver to the City Hall subway station, which took not only paying for the food, but bribing delivery boys and subway conductors to go along the abandoned track and slow down to a stop and get the food handed off. In that time he saw the other two kids come out from somewhere in the station, Aurora and Dazzler then, all they were missing was their little Nightcrawler. The kids all saved a little bit for him, and only ate sparingly themselves, used to rationing out what little food they were given unless they managed to snag someone too close to the cages.    
  
“There’s more where this came from, eat as much as you want, none of you will be hungry anymore.” Wade told them all, not surprised that none of them believed him, but glad when Peter nodded and they all began to feast on the food they’d been given. They’d never had food like this, and they were so happy. It made him wonder what it would be like, to live like this for a while, not that this was in any way sustainable, City Hall was filthy, the air was stale, the water wasn’t safe to be anywhere near let alone drink or bathe in. And these kids were growing, Wolf Cub may only be five, but the little Fire and Ice kids where fifteen. Peter was the oldest at seventeen. Just as Nightcrawler was doing now they would grow curious and sneak away to explore, and they needed to be safe when doing so, and as long as this place was their home that wasn’t possible. Best case scenario they would turn into an urban legend of the Subway, steal what food they could, and worst case scenario they’d become political fodder for the Mutant Registration Act. Wade sighed as he watched the kids all eat, unsure of what his next step should be, these kids couldn’t be forcibly removed, it would be cruel, but getting them to leave would be harder than pulling teeth from an unsedated Tiger.    
  
\-----   
  
Nightcrawler returned once more to the smell of something wonderful. The stranger had brought food for them, he phased over to his family, accepting the stern look from his mother and began to eat. Gently at first as the others had, but Marrow promised him they were allowed to eat their fill, and this food was  _ so good! _ Like the food he had smelled when exploring, he had seen many people as well, staying hidden, moving the darkness wherever he went. They looked so strange...like some of his siblings but still different, like maybe they weren’t done yet. Maybe they were like Wolf Cub or Anole, and they would finish up as they grew. Or they were like Fire and Ice, and they just shifted between being done and being blank.    
  
Nightcrawler was ripped from his contemplation with a sharp hiss from his mother, before he saw him leap into action. He followed along with the newcomer, as Fire, Ice and Dazzler took the rest of his family into hiding. The less got caught the better, and he could help keep them safe, it didn’t change the way his heart broke, he’d loved this place and already it was being taken? Nigtcrawler watched helplessly as the webbing his mother had created to keep them safe was ripped apart, and three males entered, he went for the one with the shield phasing behind him, using his tail to hold the shield and the rest of his to wrestle. The newcomer had a sword at the throat of another, wielding an advanced bow and arrow, and shouting at them all to stop, as his mother took on the worst of the trio, the one in full body armor, who had ripped through the webs like they were nothing.    
  
\-------   
  
Stark hadn’t expected to be slammed into so quickly, he actually didn’t know what to expect. But seeing Steve get taken down by a ten year old wasn’t one of them. He knew it was because Steve didn’t want to hurt the little guy but still. Another thing he hadn’t expected was Deadpool turning on them, without killing them at least, not only that but to try and deescalate the situation. The worst he expected was to watch his son charge him, with a haunting, almost bored expression. Some part of him had thought, hoped, that his son might recognize him, might sense who he was, and how much Tony loved him and needed him and wanted him back.    
  
Nothing even close to that was shining through his son’s eyes, all focused on him, it filled him with instinctive terror, which only grew as his son, his beloved baby Peter ripped his armor apart as if it wasn’t there at all. The metal fell apart from the claws on his fingers like it had been ordered to, Tony didn’t even realize he was screaming when Peter opened his mouth, revealing the pincers that had taken down Deadpool.    
  
As soon as it had started it was over, somehow, giving him vertigo as he looked around, the blue one, Kurt Wagner behind Peter, glaring at them with yellow demonic eyes, Peter still focussed on him with deadly intent but...listening, to fucking  __ Deadpool. Who stood between them, sword pointed at them, hands and face pointed to the kids and talking to them.    
  
“It’s all good, we’re all friends, no one needs to hurt anyone here, we’re all good, right Spider bae?”    
  
“Don’t you fucking call him that!” Tony yelled at him, Steve holding him back, which was unneeded, as he was frozen in place, stunned once again by him emotions as Peter spoke.    
  
“My ma-te may call me what he wa-nts.” Tony’s heart broke to hear how speaking hurt Peters underused throat, how it grated and cracked under the effort it took, hardly registering what he was saying, devastating though it was. “You are trespa-sing, he wa-nts you a-live, a-nd so you are. Ta-ke his gift, and run, it will no-t be given a second time.” 


	3. I Can Make A Promise, I Can Make A Plan

Three weeks had passed since the incident in City Hall Station. The children were still down there, living with their caregivers, Peter and more recently Deadpool, who thankfully kept in contact with Stark and the rest. Despite the horrid conditions they were kept in all the children were very well educated, multilingual, and intelligent, they knew that City Hall couldn’t be permanent, but did not trust the outside world.    
  
Tony had spent the first week after the incident laying in bed, not eating, and having to be forced to drink water by Steve. At the second week he had pulled his sorry ass out of bed and into the shower, he’d gotten his son back this far and now he was going to go the rest of the way. He sent food to the station, along with clean drinking water, books, clothes, soap, a nanotech bathtub that could purify water well enough to bathe in so they wouldn’t feel like they were using up their only clean drinking water. He also sent blankets and pillows tailored to the child so that they wouldn’t be destroyed. Peter’s however, was the blanket and pillows he’d had as a baby before he was taken, Tony had held onto them since the day he’d lost Peter, keeping them close at all times.    
  
He sent some home video as well, Peter’s first steps, first birthday. The unfortunate time when Tony had built him a baby buggy Peter could propel with his feet and spent the rest of the day using it as a tactical assault weapon. He sent pictures and letters all in the hope that he could earn Peter’s trust or at least make him aware that he meant no harm. Deadpool assured him that his gifts were greatly appreciated by the kids, and Peter had read all the letters and seen all the pictures and videos he sent, though Tony hadn’t heard anything back from Peter, who wasn’t even telling his supposed mate what thoughts he was having about what he was seeing, though he seemed to be deep in thought for a long while afterwards.    
  
The gifts he sent Peter’s brood however were going a long way to endearing Tony to him apparently. His easiest route in would be through the kids Peter cared so much for, which made sense to Tony, Peter’s fondness for Deadpool, once he learned that he wasn’t going to try and fuck his kid helped Tony actually come to tolerate Deadpool quite a lot more than he ever thought possible. He still thought the red masked freak was an absolute toolbag but, without him he wouldn’t have any hope of being this close to his kid any time soon, even though he wasn’t very close. He also knew that Peter worried deeply about the blue demon looking kid, Nightcrawler taking off to explore at night, he was arguably the safest for doing so, as he could teleport away if he ever came into danger. But the fact that there was no mistaking that he wasn’t human made it nerve wracking for Peter every time he looked up to find Nightcrawler gone.    
  
Tony may kick himself for thinking it but when he heard about Nightcrawler sneaking out, his only thought was that he was the key to being able to see his son face to face again. All he had to do was wait, and it wasn’t for long, he simply watched the little blue boy with his glowing yellow eyes and his prehensile tail sneak out under the cover of darkness to explore. He seemed to have a decent lay of the land to go from, and headed towards the rooftops and alleyways to travel. Tony engaged stealth mode on his suit and followed, he became more and more worried as they began to travel into worse and worse parts of town, eventually coming to a junkyard.    
  
The kid seemed to know where it wanted to go as he maneuvered around the piles of refuse with a clear goal in mind. His worry seemed to be unjustified as they soon left the disgusting landfill, and Nightcrawler headed into a large abandoned church. Nothing was ever truly abandoned in New York, someone was always living there, no matter how much you boarded something up someone would always find a way to get in and squat. This is where Tony became worried, the kid could handle himself, sure, but there was always the chance that someone would move faster than him in their attempts to destroy what they probably thought to be a demon.    
  
Tony landed his suit, staying in stealth mode as he walked carefully into the church, noting a few homeless people asleep in the pews, blissfully unaware of what was in the church they had made their beds in. He made a mental note to buy the property and make it into an official shelter for them, no matter how much labor laws had changed, New York was a rough place to try and cut it. Tony looked up to find Nightcrawler kneeling before a statue of the Virgin Mary, placing some flowers he must’ve picked just outside at the base of her alter. The statue was losing its color and paint, the baby Jesus was missing his face, the Egyptian blue marble beneath peeking through, Mary was missing an eye, her nose, and some of her lips, yet still she looked as beautiful and loving as she was always depicted.    
  
He watched as Nightcrawler leaped up, wrapping his tail around a ceiling beam, getting a closer look at Mary’s face, and placed a stone in the hole where it had once been, a scan revealed it was a raw ore Lapis Lazuli. Where the kid had managed to find that was beyond Tony, but it was clear that though he had not been raised to know God, and really, neither had Tony, he was enamoured with the Virgin Mary. He’d never been very comfortable with religious types, it seemed very difficult for many of them to stop at the kindness and love Jesus preached to the hateful bigotry that stained their world like a cancer. His mother had been a devout Catholic, and the few times he’d bothered to go to church with her he was always uncomfortable, the church was always stuffy and too hot, and the people always sang about the pain and horrors awaiting those who would go to hell. They cheered and praised the tortures given out to those the bible had deemed wicked. It scared the living daylights out of him when he was little, as he grew and learned more he understood why his mother had turned to it so often for comfort but he could never bring himself to try and do the same. The memories of gruesome shouted stories of sinners being brutally punished in hell always stole away what little faith he might have had in the God his mother had loved so much. Nevertheless, this would be his way into the brood his son kept. 

As quietly as he could, he stepped out of his armor and slowly approached the statue. Tony waited quietly for a moment before simply saying hello as gently as he could. The kid startled, falling from the ceiling, surviving the fall by teleporting the rest of the way down, his bright yellow eyes wide with fear. Tony put his hands up and spoke as softly as he could.    
  
“It’s alright, I won’t hurt you, I’m unarmed, and I come in peace, I promise.”    
  
“You are Zhe man who came to hunt us, ja?” Came the reply, Tony remembered he came from Germany, he’d been bought from some black market circus there, poor kid was lucky not to have been vivisected, had it been a week later he would not have been so lucky.    
  
“I was that man, yes. But I never meant to scare any of you, I was worried, and angry, and scared, I can’t excuse or undo what I did, but if I could have a second chance, it would mean more to me than you could possibly know.” Tony wasn’t accustomed to pleading like this, but if need be he’d get on his hands and knees and properly beg if the kid in front of him demanded it. He  _ needed _ to see Peter, like he needed air to breathe, he needed his baby boy. He looked up at the eyes of Nightcrawler, hoping his desperation and honestly came through.    
  
“Zhe man who vas here before you, he told me, that Gott forgives all, and ve are made in His image, though many betray that image with cruelty, some for good reasons, and some for bad. He told me no matter vhat I must forgive those around me who had done me harm, lest zhe pain poisons my soul. I vill forgive you...but you vill not make a fool of me.”    
  
“No, no I won’t, I promise! I don’t want to hurt anyone or make you scared, at all, ever again, I swear. I’m the one who sends you guys food and clothes and things now, I’m trying to make up for what I did, please just let me tell you what’s going on.” He didn’t move a muscle, didn’t dare to breathe as he watched the blue boy in front of him, tail whipping slowly from side to side in deliberation. Tony felt like he was about to pass out when finally he nodded his head and made himself comfortable on the stone steps below the crumbling Mary.    
  
Tony took a deep breath and began using his watch to show pictures of Peter and himself as a child, explained that Peter had been stolen from him. How all he wanted in this world was to have him back, how when he’d seen the chance to get Peter back he’d reacted poorly out of desperation and shortsightedness. There was one picture in particular that gave him pause, Peter, just after he’d learned how to walk, smiling with his perfect little baby teeth, reaching up to be held. Though he only had two eyes in the picture it was easy to see that is was still him despite lacking the mutation. Tony kneeled down onto the stone below him, cradling the holographic image as sorrow shot through his veins.    
  
“Vhen I vas young...my birth giver threw me to the ocean, but I did not die, and I came back, so she threw me to the river, hoping it vould carry me further away. She did manage to be rid of me that time, I vas found by an old woman who worked in a circus, she raised me as an attraction, until not so long ago. People stopped caring about zhe circus, and so she needed money, she put me in a heavy wooden trunk, and sold me to some men. After a few weeks of teleporting out of my cage and trying to run, I vas given to Mother, your son. He vould never leave me, and I could never leave zhem, or any of zhe others. Mother cared for all of us, he did not mind zhat I look like a demon, none of zhem do, Mother loves me, as he loves all of his brood. Zhough he could have escaped all on his own, many times, he never left us, even when zhe men gave him the opportunity, the endless chances he never did, he vould never leave us behind.”    
  
Nightcrawler looked up at Tony, walking over on stiled cat like feet with only two toes baring sharp claws at the tips. He noted that the kid only had three fuzzy fingers, also tipped with the frightening claws that were shockingly gentle as they slowly touched his head, giving it an awkward pat as the child tried to comfort him.    
  
“You never meant to let him be taken, ja? Ve vere all told zhat we had been abandoned or sold, some of us had proof, and zhat gave the others who had been zhere too long to know for sure proof as vell. I vill talk vis Mother, he is very fair and kind, but I can make no promises, does zhis sound fair?”    
  
Tony couldn’t believe his luck, maybe there was a god up there after all. Maybe life could begin to be a little fair, he nodded and thanked Nightcrawler, opening his arms to offer a hug, and was only slightly disappointed when he was politely turned down. As he watched the boy leap back towards his home he finally felt hope, real hope. 

Tony got back in his suit and turned on the autopilot to take him home, he couldn’t wait to tell Steve, maybe even share a dance with him. Finally he had something to dance about, maybe he’d even try one of those ridiculous 40s dances he wouldn’t shut up about. As he flew through the sky he let himself be optimistic, his son was alive and as long as that was still true there would be hope for them.    
  
  
  
—————————   
  
  
  
Spider, or Peter, he was unsure of which he would like to be called, one was a name given to him by monsters, and the other was given to him by a man who might have sold him. He laid down with his head resting in his mate’s lap, having his hair stroked as they both enjoyed a rare moment of peace. Fire and Ice were both asleep and thus had stopped their prank war for the time being, Nightcrawler had snuck out again but had proven that he would come back every time, and Wade had given him a communication and tracking device that he could active if he needed help. Dazzler and Aurora were bedded down as well, talking softly to each other, Spider thought perhaps they would soon be mates as well, he wished them the best, as it was rather wonderful. Jubilee had Armor, Sunspot, and Anole all cuddled up around her in a big pile as they nested on the pillows they had pilfered from some of the others. Marrow was taking her fifth bath of the day, now that she knew how it felt to be clean she couldn’t stand filth, Wolf Cub was sleeping beside Northstar, who kept a faint glow about him to keep Wolf Cub from crying over the dark.    
  
Spider sighed and reached a hand up to stroke the wonderful, textured skin of his mate, letting his sensed guide what areas wouldn’t hurt to touch, and thought about how wonderful his life was now. He had a mate, freedom, for him and his brood, enough food and warmth for all. Though he did have much to think about. This place was better than anything he or any of his children had ever had, at least those who had been forced into the hell hole from childhood or infancy. Jubilee had been taken off the streets after she’d run away from home after destroying her family’s electronics, Aurora and Northstar had been orphaned and before that lived a decent life apparently.    
  
Anthony Stark was apparently his father, he claimed that Spider had been kidnapped as a baby by those who had made him into a monster, but with how many ended up being sold he had no reason to trust the man who had ripped down the protective barrier of his new home. Though after reading the letters, seeing the images and footage he did understand that this man loved him, and if he could be honest with himself, Spider would have done the same for any of his own brood.    
  
Though he understood he didn’t want to face the man, he wasn’t the boy that had been taken from him. Spider had no time to disappoint an old man who had lost his son, he had his own children to care for, he had to find them a home, despite the gifts Anthony had sent this place, though wonderful to begin with was growing cramped and displaying the ways it was inhospitable. Nightcrawler had told them of large buildings, houses, full of people, Wade had also told them of all the ways they could live outside among the humans, but he had also told them of the hideous ways many of them could be harmed. He had even offered them refuge in his safehouse, though he had also said it wouldn’t be safe for them, it was too small and apparently in even worse condition than this subway station.    
  
“I can hear you thinking there Spidey.” Wade said with a smile in his voice, Spider flicked his nose playfully.    
  
“You never mentioned telepathic abilities.” He felt Wade tense beneath him, though he could say words without his voice quitting on him, and it no longer hurt to speak, Spider still sounded like he’d lived his whole life eating sanding belts and screws.    
  
“You know I don’t have them, I told you all I have, and I know you know what that expression means baby boy. Tell me what’s on your mind. Is it Nightcrawler? The general squalor of the station?”    
  
“All of them, we can’t stay here forever, and with how out of place many of us look it would be difficult to find a home for all of us.” Spider couldn’t resist tugging on an ear before returning to his slow stroking.    
  
“Iron Dildo would love to take you in...he isn’t sending you all these things because he wants you to stay here.” His mate was always tentative when bringing up Anthony, trying to use humor and other ways to lighten the conversation when he brought the man up. Spider appreciated this, his senses told him the man was no longer a true threat, but meaning well and doing well did not always go hand in hand. If he was alone he may have even considered it but he had children to think of, and doing that may risk his brood being separated.    
  
“Nightcrawler! I can hear you trying to sneak back in!” His and Wade’s conversation would have to be put on hold while he spoke to the most adventurous of his brood. “I’ve told you that you may come and go, provided you tell us before you leave, and when you will be returning. You also failed to take Wade’s gift that could be the difference between freedom and being sent back to the cage without us there to come to help, should the worst happen.” Spider almost felt bad for the poor boy, he’d likely simply forgotten as this was a new rule and obedience had yet to be fully beaten into the boy as he was the newest addition. However this was important and discipline was required. “You will not leave here for two days and when you do leave you will take one of us with you until I know you will not forget again, do you understand?” The poor boy was purple with shame, his long curved spine having nothing to do with his hunched down position for once as he nodded, accepting his punishment.    
  


  
  


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Nightcrawler knew what to do. He took his two days gracefully and when the time came he informed his mother of his request to leave the station, and for him to be his company. It was what was right, in his heart he knew that, knew that mother had been hurt, and hardened, and beaten and destroyed. Maybe it could change, maybe he could fix it, maybe they could all see the sun again, together, everything could be good, and happy. If mother would only meet Iron Man.    
  
Mother followed him, not letting him out of his sight, all the way to the church...but it wasn’t his church, it was a church. Right where he left his church, but there were lights, and people, the building was newer somehow. As he got closer, moving in what shadows he could find Nightcrawler peeked inside, only to see even more people, but they all seemed happy. He recognized a few as the ones who would sleep on the wooden benches, they were all eating soup that smelled wonderful, and they looked cleaner, fresher, at peace and happy. The only thing unchanged, was the statue behind the scene, still a ruin, but somehow more beautiful for being so, the pretty stone still where he put it.    
  
“This isn’t what you described.” Mother spoke from behind him, curiously.    
  
“No, it looks like someone fixed it, and made everyone inside happy.” Nightcrawler was very happy about this, if a little sad he couldn’t go in anymore.    
  


“Mother, vhen I vas here last time, I met the man from before, the one who sends us gifts. He says he wants to meet us, and he acted wrongly before!”    
  
“I know, he tells me as much in the letters he writes. He wants to give us a place to live, I just can’t trust him not to tear us apart. We are all we have, you remember what it was like for you before us, what it would be like if you walked into that church? Those kind, happy people, if they saw you walk in there they would rip the plastic man off the cross and nail you up there instead. What if it was Marrow? Wolf Cub? We can’t risk it, even if he means well he could still do damage. I won’t risk you, or anyone else getting hurt because someone else thinks they know better, we’re going back to the station now, come on.”    
  
His mother’s voice, while not unkind left no room for any argument, with one last look behind him, Nightcrawler beheld the beautiful statue, when he turned around to follow Spider, he failed to see the drone, primed to respond to his signals. Spider however, did not, he simply made sure the device didn’t follow them, after that, he did not care what Anthony heard or saw. No matter how much it broke the man’s heart.    
  
The man in question sat at his desk watching the feed, resisting the urge to have the drone follow them just for another glimpse of his son, instead he watched the recording over and over. He longed for even the chance to prove himself to Peter, to see him, to watch him, the man he had become was amazing, if tortured. Tony watched as Peter told his own child why he couldn’t be a part of their lives, and thought about how his own father would have handled that situation, wondered how he would if fate had given him the chance. Peter was a better father, or mother, according to Kurt, he guessed, than he ever could have been. As much as it killed him that he wasn’t there for his son, and what a wretched nightmare life he had been given, Tony couldn’t help but be proud of Peter, for becoming who he was in the face of everything around him. He wondered if Peter had never been kidnapped how he would have turned out, would he still be as good as he was? What kind of person would he be, and what kind of people would they have been together?    
  
Tony only let himself ruminate for an hour or so before he started writing his next letter, still following the general tone of begging to be let into Peter’s life, but with one change. None of the children would be taken from him under any circumstances, the only one of his children who wanted their kid back was Robert Drake, and he could use him mutation as an excuse to have him at Stark Tower. He was an Omega Level Mutant after all, residential areas that weren’t protected against things weren’t super safe from child mutants who had yet to be able to fully control their powers, it would only take a few days to equip the compound upstate for something like that. Throw in luxury rooms for the parents as well and maybe it would all work out, everything could be alright, all he had to do was get Peter to believe it, and if it was Deadpool, that fucking shitlord who said it to Peter he just might. 


End file.
